Friday Houston Blogging

The plan to post more involves a list of things I like or love about Houston and Austin and trying to do one post each week, and possibly one post for each city each week if I'm feeling ambitious.

The Commute

Believe it or not, I really enjoy my commute into work in the mornings. It's six miles and generally takes 20 minutes or less. I take the surface streets through our neighborhood and then onto Shepherd Drive, which is the main north-south (non-freeway) thoroughfare on the west side of Houston. A few miles south and then a left onto Memorial Drive. Memorial winds along Buffalo Bayou, with parks and green spaces on both sides. A mile or so before downtown, you come around a slow curve and downtown comes out of the trees at you. It's a good looking downtown and especially beautiful in the morning when it's back lit by the sun. This is basically the view as you come around that corner (though this is actually a park below the street, so the angle's a little different).

The first time I took this route into work I found that I couldn't stop smiling. I never expected to find something as dull as a commute so pleasing. Driving through three or so miles of green space with little traffic and good music on is a a great way to start the day. I honestly don't think I would enjoy my job nearly as much (or at all) if it was an hour or more slog each way on an ugly freeway filled with angry commuters. I work on the west side of downtown in the building just behind and to the right of the blue one with the gray top. I'm about 2/3 of the way up, facing west so these parks and the Bayou are my view from the office. Not too bad. Cheers to Houston for being more naturally beautiful than I thought possible.

Photo by Flickr user MsRuby used under a Creative Commons license